comparison with skaldic poetry

Skaldic poetry was contemporary with Eddaic poetry but differed from it in metre, diction, and style. Eddaic poetry is anonymous, simple, and terse, often taking the form of an objective dramatic dialogue.

division of Edda

The Poetic Edda is a later manuscript dating from the second half of the 13th century, but containing older materials (hence its alternative title, the Elder Edda). It is a collection of mythological and heroic poems of unknown authorship, composed over a long…

Icelandic literature

…designated by scholars as the Poetic Edda, or Elder Edda (see Edda). The poetry is sometimes called Eddaic and falls into two sections: heroic lays, which, broadly speaking, deal with the world of mortals; and mythological lays, which deal with the world of the gods.

record of Germanic religion

…called the Elder Edda, or Poetic Edda, written in Iceland c. 1270 and containing material centuries older. The meaning of the name Edda is disputed; it was not originally applied to this book but to another mentioned below.